Edvard Munch's The Scream painting sold for $120 million in Sotheby's auction

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Money, money money, monnnnn-aaaay!

Edvard Munch’s The Scream painting sold for $120 million in Sotheby’s auction

A pastel version of “The Scream” by Edvard Munch fetched nearly $120 million from an anonymous buyer Wednesday at Sotheby’s in New York, setting a new world record for a work of art sold at auction.

Experts had expected the masterpiece to break new ground at the famed New York auction house; its presale estimate of at least $80 million was the highest ever listed at Sotheby’s.

It sold for $119,922,500, which includes the premium paid to Sotheby’s.

Previously, the most expensive artwork ever sold there was Pablo Picasso’s painting “Nude, Green Leaves, and Bust,” which brought in $106.5 million two years ago. The previous record for a Munch work of art was just over $38 million.

The version of “The Scream” on the block Wednesday was one of four — two pastels and two paintings — executed between 1893 and 1910, Sotheby’s said, and is one of the best-known images in modern art.

It’s also the only version a private collector can get their hands on at public auction. The other three are housed in National Gallery of Norway and at the Munch Museum in the Norwegian capital, according to Sotheby’s.

What inspired this multi-million dollar painting?

“I was walking down the road with two friends when the sun set; suddenly, the sky turned as red as blood,” Munch wrote, describing how the idea for the painting came about. “I stopped and leaned against the fence, feeling unspeakably tired. Tongues of fire and blood stretched over the bluish black fjord. My friends went on walking, while I lagged behind, shivering with fear. Then I heard the enormous, infinite scream of nature.”

And there you have it, you never know what idea or experience will get you PAID!

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